HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
261
THE HON. LI WAH-MING (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, I believe nobody will reject Ms. Chow's motion, but I would like to do a little analysis on the recent incidents. The Urban Services Department has an enormous number of staff, in fact only a small number of the staff are involved in corruption. However, the recent case is rather stirring as quite a few USD staff members are involved and those being prosecuted include members of the Chief Inspector rank, and there may even be some more officers hiding behind the scene. Yesterday, a gambling case occurred in Victoria Park in which the park watchman was suspected to be involved in providing gambling paraphernalia. With regard to these incidents, I would like to suggest 3 factors which may have aggravated the corruption problem in the USD. I hope other Members may come up with more valuable opinions.
One of these factors has in fact already been mentioned by Mr. To Boon-man. This involves a wider scope of corruption and even the police take part. As a result of the 1997 effect, people hope to make quick money for emigration or savings. Even the law enforcement officers, i.e. the police are also affected by this factor.
Another factor is directly related to us, that is the rise of penalties, in particular for food business or premises. In the past, 3 points were deducted for each offence and if 15 points were deducted in a year, the license would be suspended for 2 days. Now 5 points are deducted for each offence, and 3 offences in a year will lead to a licence suspension for 4 days. The implementation of this new penalty causes the food businesses operators to make a reckless move of bribing the USD Inspectors to inform them of any inspections beforehand so that they can avoid the penalty of 4 days' licence suspension.
Besides, economic recession, particularly in the tertiary industry leads to poor business and keen competitions. Some operators of business may try dishonest practices and take shortcuts. They may offer bribes or go by the 'back door' in order to get a licence earlier or avoid being prosecuted by the Department. For instance, they would bribe the USD Inspectors to tolerate their illegal extension of shop space or sub-standard foods, and inform them of any inspections beforehand.
These bribery cases came into being all because the operators are affected by the poor business. I wish to call for the management of the Urban Services Department to review the staff training process and make more efforts to closely cooperate with the ICAC in order to prevent aggravation of the corruption problem, so as to protect the image of the Urban Council. With these remarks, I support Ms. Chow's motion.
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman. I just want to provide some information. Just now Mr. Li mentioned the demerit points
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